


You and I don't get a witness

by Whatisthiswhatamidoing



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aromantic Zuko (Avatar), Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Gen, Hurt Azula (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Physical Abuse, Protective Azula (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Sibling Love, Sibling Rivalry, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) Redemption, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, because I do be projecting, he's like absent for most of this I'm so sorry, siblings who redeem themselves together stay together, uncle iroh is trying but he can fall short esp with Azula, will add tags as I go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26925565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatisthiswhatamidoing/pseuds/Whatisthiswhatamidoing
Summary: Ozai, above all, expected perfection. As the fire lord he represented the entire nation, and by extension so did his family, and the fire nation had no weakness. Irritatingly despite his efforts to save her, his daughter had been tainted by the softness, theweaknessof his wife and son. She was no longer perfect.Azula had to go.orAu where Ozai is even more of a dick than in canon, and in trying to follow her father's orders and bring her brother back home, Azula ends up on a life-changing field trip with Zuko.
Relationships: Azula & Ozai (Avatar), Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 75
Kudos: 258
Collections: A:tla





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys!! hope you'll enjoy this uwu

“Rise, Princess Azula.”

Azula does, moving smoothly from her bow onto her knees, a careful blank _mask_ on her face. Just like her mother, Ozai mused, and the thought angered him. He should have found a reason to banish Ursa sooner once it became clear that Azula was going to be a better heir than Zuko in every way, he should have prevented Ursa from weeping her softness all over his daughter, ruining her.

But as it was, it was too late for that now, Ursa had ruined his daughter with her weakness, and the Fire Lord did not tolerate weakness.

“Why did you summon me here, Father?”

That was another blemish stained on his otherwise perfect daughter. She had no respect. Azula should’ve remained silent until he had spoken, should have stared at the floor instead of daring to make eye contact, but she was far too sure of her place by Ozai's side. She didn’t know how easily it could all be taken away. That was her brother’s influence, Ozai was sure of it, and despite driving the two apart and banishing Zuko, it seemed he had still left his mark.

How disappointing.

“I have been hearing... rumours as of late. Of treacherous plots to overthrow me. Have you heard anything like that?”

“No, Father.”

He made sure that his disappointment showed in his face. For the first time since she was summoned, Azula’s eyebrows pulled together slightly, her equivalent of a full body flinch.

“Hm. Well, I don't know who is planning to overthrow me, or how. I can’t trust any of my staff or guards. I have been thinking, and I have come to realise that family are the only ones you can really trust.”

Azula, so desperate to please, replied immediately. “Of course, you can trust me.”

“But you aren’t my only family aren’t you?” At least she knew that was a rhetorical question, staying silent. “Tell me, daughter. How long has it been since Prince Zuko was banished?”

“Three years.” Came the immediate reply. It had sounded too confident, as if she had been counting. Ursa really had ruined her.

“I want to keep my family close. That is why I am ordering you to bring Prince Zuko home. I have supplied a ship and crew for you, and any resources you need to track him down.”

Her face was still, betraying no emotion, and that in itself told him everything he needed to know.

“What about Uncle?”

“If he must come, he may. He isn’t the one banished, after all.”

Azula nodded, and Ozai dismissed her.

Of course, if all went well, neither Zuko nor Azula would be coming back. The soldiers he had hired to escort her were given clear direct orders. Allow the princess to order them around, let her truly think she was in charge and once she brought her brother back on the ship, kill them both. Losing his heirs would be inconvenient, but not the end of the world. He knew where Ursa was, after all. He could always bring her back long enough to create another child. Ozai would gladly kill a hundred children of his to obtain the perfect heir. Any soldiers that were hesitant about attacking a member of the royal family were removed immediately. His soldiers were loyal to him and only him.

Of course, he hadn’t actually heard rumours of treason, or treacherous plots. The past three years alone with his daughter had made it obvious that the damage Zuko and Ursa had done on his daughter was unfixable. They had infected her, weakening the strong parts of her ever so slightly that Ozai had nearly missed it.

Such small weaknesses, hardly even noticeable, but there were no weaknesses in the fire nation. Azula had to go.

It was a shame, really. All of those years spent moulding the perfect heir wasted. Oh well. Once Ursa had created another heir for him, he would banish her again, raising the child with no chance for weakness, no chance for softness.

And, well. If that child too ended up a failure, perhaps even becoming a threat to his throne, then he had a good ten years before he had to worry about that.

* * *

Azula’s crew was keeping something from her. She knew that her crew was lying, could see the little microexpressions and twitches they had when they deceived her. Father was planning something, but she didn’t know what. Of course, it wasn’t her place to question the fire lord, whatever he was planning, he must be keeping it from her for a good reason. He would tell her in good time.

To question the firelord was something that Zuko would do, _did_ do, and Azula knew the consequences for being like Zuko all too well.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about seeing Zuzu again after all those years. It felt like a dream. These past few years, Zuko’s banishment was treated much like Mother’s disappearance, not to be spoken of in any circumstances. Azula had resigned herself to never seeing her brother again, placing him in the same category as Mother in her head. But then the avatar came back, because of course he did. Zuzu was always lucky in that useless way of his. Too bad the meagre amount of luck he did have wasn’t enough to keep him from being banished in the first place.

It was simple enough to find him, everyone important knows about the northern water tribe massacre, the thousands of brave soldiers lost to the bottom of the sea to the water tribe savages, so if her brother and Uncle were alive all she had to do was have her soldiers ask around. It wasn’t like her brother was exactly inconspicuous, with his scar, and apparently, his ridiculous haircut.

She didn’t know _why_ she was surprised about the fact that Zuzu had such an obvious scar. Of _course_ he did, Father had burnt him right across his face for practically forever. Or at least, that was what it felt like to an eleven year old at the time. She hadn’t had the chance to see him after the agni kai. She hadn’t been in a rush to see him, his screams still ringing in her ears (it still did, three years later–) but she had foolishly assumed at the time that she would have the chance to see him later when his injury wasn’t as fresh and gross, but by the next day, Zuko was already gone. Left without a trace, just like Mother.

Eventually, after a few weeks of sailing, she found them at a resort. Of course, she had no doubt it was Uncle’s influence that led the two of them there, but the image of Zuzu fighting a masseur because he couldn’t let his guard down enough to even allow himself to lie down and let someone touch him was nothing short of hilarious.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get to see that happen, but life was full of disappointments. She waited in their cabin, playing with Uncle’s seashells until they finally dragged their lazy asses to their room.

“ _Finally._ Hello, Zuzu. Uncle.”

Zuko started, whipping his face around to look at her and–

She didn’t care about Zuko being banished, about losing her brother. Love was for children, and Azula wasn’t a _child._ Zuko was nothing more than a nuisance to her, someone she had to ensure wouldn’t threaten her spot for the favourite. But…

The sight of his scar immediately brought long buried memories to the forefront, the smell of flesh burning, the sounds of screams– Over the years she had rationalized that her young mind was simply over exaggerating things, that Father had more likely just singed him rather than _branded_ him, but Zuko didn’t even look like he could even _see_ out of his burnt side.

Nausea built in her stomach and she forced it away. She couldn’t show weakness, not with Uncle here, she had to stay focused on the mission.

“Wh– Azula? What are you doing here?” He blinked. “And how long have you been waiting?”

“In my country we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions,” she answered, expertly dodging the question. “Have you become uncivilised so soon, Zuzu?”

Zuko made a face, a familiar face, despite the scar twisting his expressions. It was one he made many times as a child, like he had many things he wanted to say but the emotional capacity to deal with none of them. It was good to know that some things never changed. Uncle stepped in, placing a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. Azula held down the urge to scowl at the hand. Just another stupid relative who for some unfathomable reason, loved Zuzu more than her even though she was better than him in every way. That was fine, she had Father. “to what do we owe this honour?”

“Hmm, must be a family trait, both of you so quick to get to the point." She shattered Uncle’s seashell, relishing in the affronted look it earnt her.

Telling them the news, she could see how much it took them off guard, especially Uncle. He really thought the worst of her, didn’t he? No matter. It was Zuzu she cared about, whether or not the old fool came along didn’t matter at all to her. To the Fire Lord.

Zuko didn’t react how she thought he would. The old him would have grinned wide, bouncing with barely contained joy as he yakked her ear off about how better everything would be, how much Father really _did_ love him, all he had to do was be better–

This Zuko blinked. And stared. And blinked some more. She would prompt him for a reaction, but if she did that, then any reaction she would get wouldn’t be truly genuine. This Zuko was so different to her old brother, it would be interesting to relearn him. And well, what _else_ was she supposed to do on the trip back home? She would wait.

The silence stretched for long enough that Uncle had started to get worried, touching him gently on the arm. “Prince Zuko?”

Zuzu blinked, as if shocked out of a trance, and stared down at the floor. “Father… _regrets_ it? He wants me back?”

She internally sighed when she realised he would drag this out for longer than it needed to, but she supposed that she could hardly believe it herself when she had first been given the order. Father was not one to change his mind. It was suspicious, and out of character, he was definitely planning something. She so longed to know what it was, but her Father’s word was law, and even if it grated against her every being to allow herself to be in the dark about anything, it wasn’t as if she could speak out against him. Zuko’s face was enough of a reminder of why that was a bad idea.

“I can see you need time to take this in." She commented, sitting back in the chair she had been in when they first came in. she started playing with another one of Uncle’s shells just to see him twitch. He cared about Zuko, that much was obvious, but he saw her as a threat. She reminded him too much of his brother.

She swallowed down the cocktail of conflicting emotions that came with that thought, and she moved her face into an innocent, genuine expression. “Uncle, I've walked all the way from the port to your little cottage. Could you be so kind as to make me some tea?” She hated Uncle’s tea, it was always too watery, never enough flavour, but it was a necessary evil for a chance to talk to her brother without the old fool messing everything up.

“I'm afraid I left my tea making supplies at the resort,” his smile was so obviously fake. Amatuar. “My old bones would not be happy with me if I trekked all the way down the hill and back." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead raising her eyebrow. Uncle was old, but he wasn’t _that_ old. Not old enough that walking up and down a hill would be a particularly big challenge.

Luckily for her, even the big dum dum picked up on this. “I could go for some tea as well, Uncle." He also wanted to talk to her alone, which surprised her. Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as she thought. She would hope, but hope was for mindless fools who had already long lost their battle.

Uncle tried to make eye contact with Zuko, but he remained where he was, staring out of the window resolutely. Uncle swallowed, and admitted his defeat. “Very well. Although when I cannot move tomorrow, don’t complain as you carry my things!” he left, taking his false jovial attitude with him. Azula breathed out a sigh, feeling like the air in the room was much lighter without Uncle there.

Zuzu didn’t feel the same, tensing up. She clenched her hands into fists. Well, good. At least he was smart enough to fear her.

“I believe you've had enough time to think. What are your thoughts?”

“I'm still– I don’t–”

“Well, you should make up your mind fast. We’re undocking tomorrow, and we won’t be turning back if you make up your mind a little too late." Technically, she _would_ have to, if Zuzu really did do that, given that she was under orders to bring Zuko back home. But Zuko worked best when he was under a little pressure.

“I just– ‘zula–” he shook his head, clenching his fists tight. An unconscious nervous habit, born out of anxiety, not anger, as most presumed. He looked at her properly for the first time since she arrived. For the first time in three years.

Three years was not that long in the grand scheme of things, a blip in their lives overall. But at this moment it felt like forever, forcing an uncrossable gap between her and her brother.

Once again confronted with his scar, she ignored the phantom screams and the smell of burning flesh, raising her eyebrow for him to finish his sentence.

He sighed, sounding like the weight of the entire world was on his shoulders. How melodramatic. “Azula." That was his serious voice. It was good to know that it mostly stayed the same throughout these years, though it was deeper and raspier now. “Are you lying to me?”

That was something they did as children, and she had shoved it so far back in her memory that to have it suddenly called into the present left her feeling off-kilter. Azula would lie as a child, all the time. At first it had been a fun game, and then it had been a way to please Father, and then she just simply didn’t know how to do anything else.

Telling the truth choked her sometimes, it caught in her throat while lies slipped out as easily as octopus-eels. Zuko, despite his thickheadedness, had figured that part of her out, and his solution was to simply ask if she was lying or not.

Truthfully answering yes and no to a question was much, much easier than admitting by herself that she had been lying. And that had been how they had worked for years, Azula lied, Zuko asked, Azula told the truth. Mostly.

The only time Zuko didn’t believe her was when she told the truth about Father and the firelord’s plans for him.

She wondered if anything would have changed if he had.

Zuko was still waiting for an answer. “No." His whole body relaxed, tension that she didn’t even notice was suddenly gone, though she wasn’t stupid enough to not notice that his gaurd was still up. Ever so slightly.

That was smart of him, and the fact that Zuzu could do anything smart just proved how strange this whole thing was.

“So… I could actually go home? I could come back?”

“Yes, that’s what I said,” she sniped, glad that the emotional part of the conversation was over. “You really are a dum dum, if this is taking so long to get into your thick skull.”

Zuko didn’t even seem to mind the insult, looking more and more hopeful by the minute. “I don’t even need to capture the avatar?” He shook his head. “I can’t believe it. This is too good to be true. What’s the catch? And tell the truth.”

She held up her hands. “No catch on my part, Zuzu.”

“ _Your_ part? So there is a catch?”

She scoffed, “not any that I know about. Father has just been acting… strange lately. You know how out of character calling you home is for him.”

Zuko scowled at her, which, _rude_ , she was only trying to help. “No, Father must just think I've been punished enough. Maybe the siege of the northern water tribe was what convinced him.”

She shrugged. “Maybe." Without concrete evidence, there was no way to change her brother’s mind. He was as stubborn as he was stupid, and sometimes it was good to know which battles to choose when it came to zuko.

“Let’s go right now.”

“Calm _down_. We’re not set to leave until tomorrow, and I refuse to go anywhere until I get one night of sleep on land." She _hated_ sailing, all the rocking was just– _urgh._

Zuko slumped. “I guess. We need to convince Uncle to come as well.”

“You mean _you_ need to convince him to come, I don’t care if he comes or not.”

“Wha– but–” He scowled. He did that much more than he did that back then. Maybe the scar helped. “Didn’t Father want to keep his family close?”

“Specifically, he wanted you. Or, well, us. Must be an heir thing.”

“...Yeah. Must be.”

She clapped his shoulder, silently fuming that he was taller than her now. “Besides, Uncle hates me, if anyone can convince him to come, it’s you. You’re his _favourite."_ She spat, letting the bitterness deep into her voice. Zuko stared at her, his face guarded, but his eyes betrayed everything.

“He loves you as well. He’s just–” Zuko didn’t finish the sentence, and Azula gritted her teeth against the pang of pain in her heart that had no right to be there. She was strong, emotionless, _perfect._ She didn’t care about insignificant things such as not being Mother’s favourite. She had Father, after all.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, dum dum." She murmured, feeling a strange hesitant to leave, a childish fear that her brother would cease to exist once she closed the door and would go back to being a forbidden topic, never to be talked about again.

She refused to look back, closing the door behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is affectionally named 'shit goes down' in my folders uwu

Her soldiers all stood in a line on either side half way up the moorage. She didn’t order them to do that, but royal soldiers had so many etiquettes around royals that it was hard to keep track. It was best to allow them to carry out any ceremonies they wished, rather than waste precious minutes of the day listening to soldiers beneath her explain things she didn’t need to know.

It looked like Zuko had managed to convince Uncle to come– Agni knows how with Zuzu’s complete lack of persuasion skills, but it was likely that Uncle was protecting Zuko from whatever he thought she was planning. How _nice_ it was to be trusted by her family.

Her brother and Uncle calmly made their way down the moorage, her old Uncle suspicious as ever, glancing at the soldiers as if they’d ever attack a member of the royal family, and her brother looked as stupid and hopeful as ever. She hoped that Father wasn’t planning anything bad for him once they got home. Not because she cared for him but, well. Ever since Ty Lee left for the circus and Mai moved back in with her family, it got awfully dull.

“Brother, Uncle, welcome,” she greets and bows, like a good princess. “I'm so glad you’ve decided to come.”

“Are we ready to depart, your highness?” the caption asked as the soldiers closed in behind them. Her gut tensed as she noticed that it was almost like her soldiers were caging them in, trapping them all, but she forced the feeling away. She couldn’t afford to make rash decisions based on gut feelings, that was how generals less cunning than her ended up showing their cards too quickly, how they made themselves vulnerable for the enemy to strike.

“Of course. Set our course back to the fire nation, Captain.”

“You heard her!" The Captain yelled as they made their way up the boardwalk, “raise the anchors, and chain up the prisoners!”

_...What._

Everyone froze where they stood, even the Captain, but there was no room for hesitation when dealing with _traitors._ She punched out, barely giving the man any time to block her flame, and for once, her years of combat training were finally paying off other than sparring, she easily matched him, a full grown man, how _pathetic._

Soldiers were everywhere, grabbing her brother and Uncle, and was the _whole_ crew in on this? Disgusting, she’d have to convince Father to execute so many people. Were Lo and Li in on it too? Who wasn’t sitting around waiting to betray her?!

Flame shot by her, dangerously close, and _shit,_ she had to be careful, she wasn’t wearing any armour like the crew were, nor was her brother and Uncle, they were seriously disadvantaged, not like she would ever let that take away her victory.

Arms grabbed her just as she was about to burn the Captain, and she had to bite her tongue to resist the urge to howl in rage. Instead she kicked fire backwards, falling back on every defence move she had learnt in her childhood to shake them off, but the Captain was right there, and she had to focus on him too, and _shit_ was half the crew trying to take her down? No way, there was no way she was going down to cowardly traitors–

“Azula!" A blast of orange fire flew over their head, and one of the crewmates howled in pain. In the midst of the shock and the _when did little Zuzu become so hardened that he would willingly hurt someone?,_ she took the opportunity to break out of their grasp, regaining the upper hand in the fight with her brother Zuko right by her side, as it was supposed to be.

“Prince Zuko! Get away from her, isn’t it obvious she’s the mastermind?!” Uncle called out from where he was bowling over multiple soldiers as they desperately tried to take him down, _–too old to climb up and down a hill her ass–_ looking at them, at _Zuko_ with a panicked, angry glare.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, these soldiers are traitors! You will be executed for your crimes!" She screamed, throwing fire at the closest soldier and grunting as one of the soilers launched themselves at her, knocking them both to the ground.

Firebending wasn’t as useful in close combat, there was too much risk of burning herself as well as her opponent, and she was forced to resort to all the non bending fight moves she knew, blocking the soldiers punches and attempts to take her down and _finally_ managing to pin down the soldier by their neck. In the struggle, their helmet had been knocked off, revealing a wide eyed woman underneath.

She wasn’t dumb enough to look away, but she could hear the sounds of fighting continuing behind her. Zuzu had her back, she could afford an interrogation.

“Tell me,” she hissed, “what the _fuck_ is going on. Who paid you? What are their plans? I am your Princess, you must answer me!”

The soldier growled and attempted to punch her, as if that did anything. Idiot. She tightened her grip, her nails drawing blood in the skin, and leaned in close. “You have five seconds to answer, or I'll burn you alive and join my brother in _destroying_ your crewmates.”

The soldier grunted as she tightened her grip, and glowered, but something about Azula got to her, be it her threat or just her tone, she didn’t care, she just wanted answers. The soldier spat in her face, and the only reason she didn’t burn her to death on the spot was because she was _talking._

“Who–who do you think, bitch?" She choked out, “We’re the royal army, the _firelord_ ordered us to kill you two.”

Her fist tightened even more, the blood was going to be irritating to clean off her hands later. “Liar! Don’t lie to me! I can tell, you _can’t_ lie to me. Tell me the truth!”

But she wasn’t, she wasn’t lying, Azula knew, could tell from the millions of little ticks and cues that people would go their whole lives not realising they had. This soldier, burnt and bleeding and glaring up at her with fierce loyalty that _wasn’t for her,_ was not lying, but she had to be, because the alternative was– was–

“Azula, watch out!”

She was dragged off the soldier, and _Agni,_ she was _sick_ of being manhandled like this. She twisted around, tugging furiously at her arms, but they were being held by several soldier’s tight grip, but that wouldn’t deter her, it was just as easy to bend with her feet, and she did just so, throwing fire around and causing one of them to flinch and _yes,_ she just had to stun once more and then she’d be able to slip–

Suddenly she was thrown into the unforgiving metal wall of the ship, her head bouncing off the wall with a sickening _thud._ Nausea overtook her, and her head suddenly felt like it weighed a million tonnes, dragging her down to the smooth floor of the ship.

...What was she doing again?

She was in danger, she knew that, and the only person who could help her in danger was herself, so she pulled herself up against the metal wall, wrinkling her nose when her hand slipped against the blood that was dripping down the wall. That… must have come from her. The pain was receding slightly, allowing her to pull her thoughts together. She remembered now, she was in a fight, she had to defend herself.

The rushing in her ears wouldn’t let her hear something as quiet as footsteps, but she could feel them, echoing through the metal floor. She had to defend herself, but the thought of turning around to see her enemy made bile rise in her throat.

“She doesn’t believe us about her Father?" A voice that sounded so much like the Captain’s spoke, muffled and distant. Perhaps he was far enough away that she would have enough time to get back up to fight? “Then let’s show her exactly what the Fire Lord thinks of her.”

“No–!”

Pain exploded in her shoulder, and a scream cut through the air, so loud and inhuman it couldn’t have possibly come from her, and yet her throat was aching and it sounded so much like Zuzu’s scream when Father had– had– The pain overtook her, it _consumed_ her, it was even stealing her vision, darkness seeping into the edges of her vision as she lay on the deck. When did she get on the deck? She was in the middle of a battle, she was interrogating a traitor, she couldn't her brother and Uncle have all the glory! Yet, her body didn’t obey her when she told it to stand up, it didn’t _listen_ to her, it just twitched of its own accord, like the turtleduck she had burnt to death in her childhood, because Father had wanted proof of her dedication to him. Her body was just like everyone else, betraying her, _abandoning_ her when she needed it the most.

But she didn’t need anyone. Did she?

There were hands touching her, not rough and tight like her traitorous soldiers have been, but light and panicked. It didn’t even go near the area of fiery pain, but the light touches still _hurt_ somehow. She needed to get up, she was being unimaginably weak and pathetic, Agni, _what_ would Father think if he saw her now? He would kill her on the spot, no doubt about that. She couldn’t let that happen, she had to get herself back to normal before Father came and saw–

The touches stopped being light and panicked and started being insistent and firm. The arm that wasn’t practically falling off– it must be with how much pain she was in– was looped over someone’s shoulder, and she was pulled up. An animalistic noise of pain came from somewhere and it took her a few seconds to realise that it had dragged itself from her own throat. Not even her own voice would obey her.

There was noise and fighting and yelling and a constant stream of frantic murmurings in her ear, and it was all too much. Everything was growing dimmer and dimmer by the second, and whoever was kidnapping her was running, had given up on dragging her behind them and had picked her up in a firekiller’s carry, how humiliating.

She couldn’t summon the energy to protest, or burn her kidnapper for their misconduct.

She couldn’t summon the energy to do anything but allow the darkness to overtake her vision, taking her away from the pain.

* * *

Zuko ran for what felt like hours, desperately trying to shake off anyone who would be chasing after them and struggling to hold on to his sister, it was almost a miracle that the river he was following led him to a cool cave, safe from prying eyes. It was as cool as someone could get in a place as hot as this, and that was good, because Azula was unconscious and barely responsive ever since that bastard _burnt_ her.

It was hard to believe that her perfect prodigy sister could ever be hurt, could ever be vulnerable enough that anyone could get away with it, and yet when that soldier had hit her head against the metal wall he had foolishly assumed that she hadn’t hit her head that hard, that she could handle herself and the only backup she needed was for Zuko to keep as much soldiers from her as he could.

How fucking stupid of him.

Her burn was– _bad._ Zuko didn’t think it was as bad as his, but he wasn’t conscious to know what his scar had looked like when it was fresh. All he knew was that it burnt and burnt and burnt until it didn’t anymore. _Agni,_ how was she supposed to survive this? He barely survived on a ship with access to a healer, what hope did Azula have in a forest with no access to healing supplies?

This was all his fault, he was the reason that Uncle had stayed on the boat to bent lighting to distract the soldiers enough to allow Zuko to drag Azula away, and who knows if he was even still alive– _he_ was the reason that his sister was burnt, was the reason that she was shaking and moaning from the pain even unconscious.

He was glad that she had passed out, he knew _very_ well just how painful a bad burn could be. Even first degree burns can bring someone to tears if it was big enough. He didn’t want to look to check how bad Azula's burn was, but he had to, if he wanted her to survive.

He had gotten infected, when he had been burnt, and the only thing he remembered was _pain_ , and Uncle gripping onto his hand so tight it nearly hurt, breathing little gasps that could be sobs, as he begged for Zuko to survive for just a little longer–

He didn’t want Azula to have those memories.

So almost mechanically, feeling nothing but the ever present churn of dread and _fear_ in his gut, he found a sharp rock, and used to cut her clothes away from the burn, allowing him to look at the injury. It was blistering badly, and it covered her entire shoulder blade, just touching her middle back, and seeping over her shoulder and up her neck. It was _definitely_ going to scar.

He tried not to think about that, as well as the other, older burns he found on her body that looked all too similar to the burns Father had given to him as a child–

He did what he could for her. It wasn’t much, as Zuko only ever got the basics of burn care as a small child, and was always told to ‘get an adult’ for serious burns like these. He just did what he remembered Uncle doing for him when he was thirteen, Agni, Azula was only a year older than him when he had been– and when he could do no more, he sat back, waiting for her to wake up.

He should probably scout his surroundings, search for a village, some source of food, anything that had even the slightest healing properties. But Uncle hadn’t left his side when he had been burnt, and before now, Zuko had never understood why. Why wouldn’t his Uncle leave when he had the chance? Why would Uncle subject himself to the boredom and worry of waiting by his sick nephew’s bedside for him to wake up, when it was clear it wouldn’t happen anytime soon?

Zuko understood now, _oh,_ does he understand. It was as if there was a physical tether tying him and Azula together, even if he fought against it, he couldn’t leave her. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything but sit and wait.

He ended up waiting for a while, but not as long as he feared. The night had fallen, and the air was cool, no doubt a relief for Azula’s burn when her eyes slowly fluttered open, her eyebrows pulling together when she took him in.

“Zuzu? Urgh…” She moved her arm to push herself up and Zuko quickly put a hand to stop her, not even caring about the weak glare she shot him for touching her without permission. She was always strange about touch, even as a young child.

“Don’t. Don’t move. You’ve been hurt.”

“Wha’s happened?" She slurred, her voice thick and heavy with pain. “Did Father get mad at me?" He blinked, and swallowed.

“No, Father isn’t here. Don’t you remember what happened?”

Azula groaned in answer, letting her head thump back onto the ground in a way that made Zuko wince. Judging by the blood streaming down her face, she really couldn’t afford any more head trauma. “Don’ know, don’ care. It–” she groaned, grasping onto his sleeve like she did as a kid. “It hurts. Will Mother come?”

He hesitated, then nodded, pulling a fake smile onto his lips despite the fact that Azula’s eyes were closed. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, she’ll come, she’ll– she’ll be here, I promise.”

Azula didn’t answer, passed out again. If not for the blood and horrific burn, Zuko would say she almost looked peaceful in her sleep. He took a deep breath, pushing down the fear and grief and anger that wanted to rise, and resigned himself to waiting.

* * *

Azula wasn’t getting better.

It had been _days,_ and Zuko was already pushing it way too much by staying in one place for so long but what else could he do? His sister was so hurt, Zuko could barely keep her awake long enough to eat and drink, let alone move her in this state.

He wished Uncle was here. He would know what to do, he always did. He would say some stupid proverb that Zuko didn’t understand and somehow fix everything. At the very least, he could go and find someone that could help without leaving Azula alone.

But as it was, it was just the two of them, and Zuko had to make a choice. So far, he had barely left the cave, finding food as close as he could, and drinking from the river that was only about fifteen metres away. He hadn’t had the chance to check if they were even anywhere near civilization, let alone one that had a healer that was willing to help a firebender.

And that was another issue. While the resort they had been at was an earth kingdom colony, Zuko knew that most of this area wasn’t. They were in earth kingdom territory, enemy ground. There would be no one in the earth kingdom who would ever want to help two runaway firebenders, despite them being royals. And as for the fire nation itself, well…

Zuko didn’t know what to think when it came to the order that Father had supposedly given to kill them. The Captain could have very easily been lying, most people usually were, but with Azula too stunned to even stand up at the time, he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have been gauging whether the man was lying or not. Logically, he knew that Father loved them, he wouldn’t kill them without a reason, or at least, he wouldn’t kill Azula, but Azula had said herself that the order to bring him back home was out of character. He’d even thought it was too good to be true at first. He was so sure she had been lying before he asked if she was.

Uncle had said that asking a liar if they were lying wasn’t enough to trust, but Uncle didn’t know Azula, he never really made an effort to.

If Uncle was here, he’d probably say something like, _in situations like these, it is wiser to sit atop the mountain and watch the tiger-mooses fight_. Zuko was pretty sure just meant _be cautious, don’t try anything stupid,_ and he was pretty sure _that_ meant _cut off your phoenix tail and pretend to be a fugitive, idiot._

That last voice sounded much more like Azula than Uncle. Maybe his unconscious sister wasn’t the best company.

He wasn’t rejecting his nation by cutting his hair, he _wasn’t._ He was doing it only to blend in, a phoenix tail such as his was quite obviously fire nation, no matter how many hats he wore, someone would notice eventually. Besides, it would always grow back. ~~But the fact that he cut it would always remain.~~

He did it quickly, emotionlessly. The lonely phoenix tail floated away in the river, cut by the knife Uncle got him from ba sing se.

He stared at it for a while, and then got antsy about leaving Azula alone for too long.

Azula didn’t need to cut her hair at least, Zuko was pretty sure she would never forgive him for that. Unlike Zuko’s distinctly fire nation haircut, the only thing that was fire nation about Azula’s was her crown and the way that it was styled, both easily fixed.

He carefully removed the crown, being very careful not to let her hair fall onto her wound. It had been a while, he needed to wake her up for water again. Maybe if he–

He froze. He tried to touch Azula as little as possible because he knew she didn’t like it, even if she was unconscious, so he didn’t even notice until his hand had accidentally brushed her forehead. It was hot. _Very_ hot.

His heart starting to speed up a little, he summoned a flame, using its light to investigate Azula’s burn. He had looked at her burn probably more than he had looked at anything else before, and so he didn’t notice as it subtly changed, but now that he was looking, it was definitely looking more purple than it should. It was hard to tell with just his fire as a light source, but he knew that wasn’t a normal burn colour.

Heart now in his throat, he moved so that he had a clear view of her shoulder blades. The non burnt one was more flushed than it should be, probably because of the fever, and the burnt one was swollen. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, but it was undeniable when looked at closely. Azula’s burn was infected.

Shit.

He _had_ to find a healer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aiming to post a chapter every week, so we'll see how that goes 👀👀 but it's not guaranteed since I'm in the middle of exams (yes I started a fanfic in the middle of exams and what about it) so updates will be ehhhhh but I'll try to at least be semi consistent


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!! nearly missed this update but luckily the time gods granted me a favour and I got to write this out dfghgfds

Pain. 

That was pretty much her entire existence, now. Pain, coupled with blissful darkness. 

She liked the darkness the most, the pain was far away there, just barely singeing the edges of her consciousness. 

However, some _asshole_ wasn’t letting her enjoy it, constantly waking her up to pour water down her throat, to force her to eat something, to mess with her burn. She had half a mind to firebend at the idiot to make him leave her alone, but her inner fire was weak, wavering.

That was bad, she knew, but the darkness kept her from thinking too much about it. 

However, the asshole was being even _more_ of an asshole today, and was now _touching_ her, dizzyingly lifting her up and agitating the large area of pain that constantly resided on her right upper back, and making it hurt, hurt, _hurt._

Something murmured, the same murmur that always came when she had to drink or eat. It was… nice. It reminded her of mother, comforting her when she was sick as a child, and actually paying attention to just _her_ for once, no Zuko to steal her away. 

She wasn’t feeling very appreciative of the murmur now, however. She attempted to tell the voice to fuck off or else she’d burn them, but it came out as more of a garbled groan. The gentle murmurs increased, grating on her nerves.

It was getting harder to think, the pain was almost too much to handle. Despite the dizzying vertigo of being upright for the first time in days, and the shakiness of the steps she almost didn’t realise she was taking, darkness overtook her once more, and she gratefully allowed it.

* * *

Song put down the pile of towels that she had folded and was trying to put away, leaning backwards until her back gave a satisfying _crack._ Working all day and evening was exhausting, but she and her mother needed the extra money, no matter how guilty it made Song feel to leave her mother to eat dinner on her own. At least it wasn’t the most backbreaking work, as an apprentice she usually just made sure that the overnight patients were comfortable, getting them anything they needed, and if any patients who came by at night needed urgent care, she could keep them stable until a proper healer could come and take over. 

Mostly, it was very boring. She usually had a book on her to read when it got particularly dull, but her boss didn’t like it when she slacked on the job. 

Luckily tonight, she was the only person working here. It wasn’t a particularly large healer's building, it was rare when they needed to call for more employees in the middle of the night, especially at this time. 

After making sure all the patients were okay, she sat on one of the spare beds, fishing out her book and finding where she last left off. The book was a splurge, cheaper than most books since it came from one of the new printing machines. It was a good story so far, and she couldn’t wait to find out what happened to–

A loud banging noise interrupted her reading, and she nearly dropped her book in surprise, jerking her head to the door. A beat, and then knocking again, sounding more frantic. She jumped up, rushing over to the door and unlocking it as fast as she could. 

She barely held back a gasp once she realised what she was looking at– a boy, around her age, with a large burn on nearly half his face– no, it wasn’t a burn, it was a scar, an old one. No, what was more concerning was the unconscious girl he was holding. It took her a second to realise what was wrong with her. A large burn marred her shoulder, and with closer inspection, it was clear it was infected, judging by the girl’s feverish look and the swell and unnatural colour of the wound.

“Help my sister.”The boy gritted out. Then, as if it was an afterthought, “ _please._ ”

* * *

Zuko resisted the urge to fidget, instead giving in to the persistent ache that had been plaguing his back for hours and finally leaning backwards, alleviating the pain slightly. 

Azula was better, her burn wasn’t infected anymore, but she _still_ wouldn’t wake up. It had been days. 

The girl who had let them in the first night, he thought her name might be Song, had insisted that it was normal, her body was just fighting off the infection. 

“You shouldn’t be worried yet, at least not for a few more days.” Song had said, her hand burning his shoulder, and her sympathetic smile almost crushing Zuko with the weight of it. “It’s good that she’s sleeping through the worst of it anyway, I'm… sure you know why.”

Oh, trust him, he knew. 

He guessed that Song had a point there, while he had been healing from his burn, he would have given anything to be unconscious throughout the whole ordeal, but the selfish, horrible part of him that had basically let Azula be burnt in the first place wanted her to be awake and back to her mean, bossy self.

Once again, his thoughts drifted back to how Uncle would have felt, sat by his bedside clenching onto his hands, and assured that he would survive but still prayed to the spirits anyway. When he saw Uncle again, he should probably make him some tea or something, to apologise if he caused Uncle a fraction of the worry he felt for Azula. _If_ he saw Uncle again. 

He swallowed, his heart skipping a beat at the thought of Uncle in the hands of Father’s soldiers. He hadn’t had the time to truly worry about him because of Azula, but now that she was somewhat safe, the thoughts plagued him. Would Father be merciful to him? Zuko had no idea of the exact orders Father gave the royal soldiers, so maybe Uncle would be fine? He was still struggling to wrap his head around the fact that Father had actually tried to _kill_ them. Not just him, but Azula as well. He couldn’t believe it, was he sure that Father would never do such a thing.

But that was exactly what he thought just before Father had caressed his face and burnt and burnt and _burnt–_

Whatever the reason, no matter if Uncle was alive or not, (it mattered, it _mattered–)_ the problem still remained that they were on the run from the Fire Nation. From their home. 

What the hell were they even supposed to do when Azula was healed? They couldn’t just go back to the fire nation, not when Father, and therefore the entire country, wanted them dead. There was no way Azula would accept living a life in the earth kingdom and honestly, neither did Zuko. But it wasn’t like they had any other choice.

That was another reason he was looking forward to Azula waking up. Navigating complex political situations was never his forte, much to the detriment of being the crown prince. Azula was always the one who understood, just like that. When she woke up, she would know what to do, how to get them out of their situation and somehow convince Father that they were worthy of staying alive, that they had a place in his vision of the perfect fire nation. 

Without warning, he yawned, noting angrily that his eyes were starting to drift shut, despite the discomfort of the chair he was sitting in. But he guessed that he was pretty used to un-princely sleeping arrangements by now, having spent the last few weeks lost at sea, having no idea if they’d ever survive, watching thousands of fire nations soldiers, his _people_ , bodies float at sea, and _oh Agni, was that his crew–_

Anyway. He wasn’t allowed to sleep here, according to the head healer, Kang, but the girl who was treating his sister must have some sort of ulterior motive because when kang left and she was one of the few employees here, she let him stay the night. He had no idea why. Maybe she was a fire nation spy? If she was, then she might not have gotten the news that Father wanted them dead yet, or she did, and she was just biding her time until Zuko let his guard down. Or maybe she was just a random earth kingdom girl who didn’t know the reality of war, living blissfully in her little village life, oblivious to how danger leaked out of every corner of the world. 

“Are you okay, Li?” it took him a second to respond, forgetting about the names he gave himself and Azula. Looking behind him, Song's gaze was on the floor she was brushing, almost like she didn’t say anything to him at all, if not for the way she was facing him, waiting for an answer. 

“I'm fine.” He muttered, just like he always did, and Song hummed. 

“You look tired, you should sleep. I’d offer you a bed, but my boss…”

“I get it. It’s fine.”

There was a beat of silence, and then he felt his chair move slightly as Song put her hand on the back. She had figured out pretty quickly that he didn’t like to be touched by strangers. “You know, Xui’s healing really well. I'm sure she’ll wake up in a few days, maybe even sooner.”

She might be lying, she was probably lying, trying to gain his trust, but even then he couldn’t help the way his stomach twisted with hope. 

Song’s hand lingered, then left. “I'm finishing my shift now, I'll see you tomorrow, Li.” If she waved, he didn’t turn to see it, and soon enough, the door closed shut and they were left alone. 

He didn’t want to sleep, not in this strange place where they could get attacked any minute, but his body didn’t seem interested in giving him a choice.

Without his notice, his eyes slowly slipped close, and he fell asleep.

* * *

Consciousness returned to her slowly. 

She didn’t know much, but even with her mind addled and confused, she could piece together enough things to get a picture. She knew that she had been hurt, she knew that despite being cold and hungry and thirsty, someone had kept her alive instead of killing her or leaving her to die like any sane person would have done. 

She knew enough to know that this was the first time she was truly awake in a long time. 

She dragged her eyes open, wincing at the light that immediately seared her eyeballs, and turned her head to take in her surroundings. She blinked when the first thing she laid eyes on was Zuko, fast asleep, with a shaved head that was growing stubble. And perhaps most confusingly of all, he was trussed up in earth kingdom clothes, dressed like a _peasant,_ for some unfathomable reason. 

And her hair wasn’t in its usual top knot anymore, it was tied into a loose bun, kept carefully out of her wound. Where the hell was her crown?

“Oh, Xui, you’re awake!” She jerked her head over to the intruder, automatically calling up fire, and blinking when her inner fire spluttered and refused to cooperate. What?

With her Fire currently unavailable, (but not gone, fire didn’t just _leave–)_ her body tensed for a fight instead, as a strange earth kingdom peasant girl walked in her line of vision. “I'm so glad you’ve regained consciousness.” She smiled, looking harmless, and therefore dangerous, if Azula had learnt anything from her friendship with Ty Lee. “Li was so worried about you, he refused to leave your side.” She gestured to Zuko, who looked the furthest thing from a Fire Nation prince, and it finally clicked. 

The traitorous soldiers had _injured_ her, and in an incomprehensible line of reasoning that only her brother could have, Zuko had brought her straight into enemy territory for help. Once they were alone, she was going to have _words_ for him.

“How nice of him.” She sneered, and was surprised by how strained her voice was. How long had she been out?

“Do you remember what happened?” the girl asked, and she nodded. If she was lucky, all she would have to do was agree to everything she said, and the girl would soon leave. 

A pause, and she realised that she wanted her to elaborate. “We were attacked, and my brother brought me here.”

The girl blinked, probably surprised by the lack of details, but Azula couldn’t tell her anything more without confirming their cover story with Zuko. If the idiot thought to make up one more detailed than what she told the girl, that is. “Um, yeah, that’s right. I had to make sure you remembered, you had a pretty big head wound there. You were lucky it mostly healed itself while you were out, concussions on top of a burn like that really wouldn’t be nice. How does it feel by the way?”

Azula blinked, and went to shrug before gritting her teeth from the spike of pain the action brought. “It’s– fine. I can barely feel it.” The girl nodded, looking relieved.

“That’ll be the tea I gave you, and the soothing cream. Second degree burns can be… _really_ painful, so I thought that giving you painkillers before you woke up would be best. Especially with your infection.”

What? When did she get an infection? Who had been feeding her tea in her sleep? How long had she been out? She gritted her teeth. This was all too much information to take in, and despite the fact that she just woke up, she was impossibly tired. “Alright,” she muttered.

There was a beat, and Azula could tell that she was making things a little awkward, but she didn’t know how to fix it. She had never been the one responsible to alleviate awkwardness as the Fire Princess, and honestly, she couldn’t give less of a shit about the earth kingdom girl’s feelings.

“Do you have any questions?”

She had many questions, but none she wanted to ask her. She needed to talk to her brother _alone_ , so if she would just leave–

“You look tired,” the girl smiled, small and sweet, “I'll leave you alone now. Call me if you need anything.” Azula watched her finally leave, relaxing her tense muscles when she was sure that she wouldn’t come back. 

She should probably wake up Zuko now, learn as much as she could about their situation so she could figure out how to get them out of it without dying.

But her mind kept coming back to the events leading up to her last moments conscious, the betrayal, the fight, the– the _burn._

_“Who do you think, bitch? We’re the royal army, the fire lord ordered us to kill you two.”_

_“She doesn’t believe us about her Father? Then let’s show her exactly what the fire lord thinks of her.”_

_Screams tearing themselves out of her throat, her shoulder was melting, she was going to die her Father was going to kill her–_

Her breath seized in her throat, trapping themselves in her lungs and she forced it out. Good firebenders never lost breath control and she was the _best_ fire bender, what would Father think if he saw her right now? Oh Agni, _Father–_

She couldn’t believe it, she just couldn’t–

How _dare_ the royal army commit treason in such a _cowardly_ and disrespectful way? Father really _wasn’t_ being paranoid about treacherous plots to overthrow him, if the even royal army was infected. Of course, getting rid of the heirs would be the very thing that set whatever plan they had in motion, then there would be no one to challenge for the throne once they got rid of Father. How were they planning to pass off their deaths? Accident? Assassanation? 

Shit. They _needed_ to get home now, not just to reassure a man’s paranoia, but to save the fire nation. 

And perhaps once they were done, she could locate the traitor who burnt her and give him a slow, painful death. Not only that he would _dare_ insinuate that she would ever be weak enough that Father would need to hurt her like that, but he had burnt her to get at Zuko, instead of just killing her. He could have very easily slit her throat with how stunned she had been. He had been playing with them.

If her brother changed his stance on torturing people in the years he was gone, she would let him have a few turns as well. Who said she wasn’t a good sister?

Comforted slightly by planning how slowly she’ll burn the man’s eyes out, she reached out with her good arm, ignoring her body screaming at her to do nothing but lie and heal, and leaned forward as much as her wound allowed. 

“Li.” She hissed, remembering what the girl called him. Zuko remained asleep. “Li!” she rolled her eyes, huffing out a frustrated sigh, and double checking to make sure no one was within earshot. “Zuko!”

Her brother started, blinking blearily for a few seconds before he realised who he was looking at. “Azula, you’re awake!”

“Shut up, idiot!” she hissed. “You were the ones who gave us fake names in the first place, dummy. How are you this stupid?”

“I was just–” Zuko shook his head, looking at her as if he hadn’t seen her in years. He actually hadn’t before, but he had been too preoccupied with the news she had brought to pay too much attention to her. “I'm just–relieved to see you awake.” He crossed his arms and looked away. “You’ve been out for a while.”

“Aw, you missed me?” she crooned, never one to miss an opportunity to make fun of Zuko, even in incredibly volatile situations like this. 

Zuko scowled. “I was just worried. I'm allowed to be worried about my sister.”

“I suppose,” she sniffed, ignoring a strange pang in her chest that came with Zuko's mumbled admission.“ Anyway, care to tell me what the fuck is happening?” She let a bit of her anger and confusion show on her face– it was only Zuko after all, she wasn’t jeopardizing anything by showing her true emotions to him– and Zuko clenched his hands, glancing around the room as if he would see any evesdroppers. 

“uh, it's difficult to explain.” of course, they couldn't talk freely, not here. It was obvious, but Azula almost couldn’t push down the rage–sadness– _fear_ of being kept in the dark _again_. Look at what happened last time. “I'll tell you later, okay? When we’re– uh, _you’re_ feeling better.” she rolled his eyes at his near slip up, but the tense part of her relaxed regardless. She wouldn’t be kept in the dark for long, she would know everything soon. 

As it turned out, that ‘soon’ came far quicker than either of them were expecting, it hadn’t been an hour since Azula woke up, an hour filled with Zuko informing her as discreetly as he could about anything she needed to know– that the head healer, although healer was a generous term, had demanded that Azula and Zuko take their lodgings elsewhere. 

“But we don’t have anywhere else to go! She’ll get sick again if we just leave, especially since you won’t even let us take any medicine!”

“No money, no nothing. She’s awake, she can move, I’ve already lost enough money wasting a bed on a washed out war child who’ll die of starvation anyway! No. You have to leave.”

“But we don’t have any money! Why can’t we just pay you later? What sort of fucking asshole are you?!” Zuko looked about two seconds from lighting something on fire, and through the fog that had settled over her mind, which was probably the tea, she belatedly thought that she should intervene before zuzu outed them. The man crossed his arms. 

“One that needs money. I'm not talking about this anymore. Pack up and leave.” ight, this situation clearly needed her intervention, so despite the searing spikes of pain she received every time she moved her shoulder, she gritted her teeth and braved through it, pushing herself into a sitting position. 

She panted a little, the mere act of sitting up felt like running a hundred miles, but no one noticed, so she was safe for now. 

She opened her mouth to spin a delightfully crafty tale that would get the man to allow them to take whatever medicine they needed, maybe even allow them to stay until the thought of standing up didn’t make Azula want to puke–

“Kang!” the girl who had talked to her when she first woke up rushed into the room, looking panicked and upset for whatever reason. Perhaps the man– Kang, wasn’t going to pay her for treating Azula? Hm, if she played their cards right, she could use that to their advantage. “Are you kicking them out?”

The man groaned. “Song, stay out of this, don’t you have work to do?”

“Xiu's still hurt, she can’t travel in her condition.”

“Not my problem.”

“Song.” Zuko said, making eye contact with Azula. “Just leave it. We’ll figure it out on our own.”

“No, you should stay with me! We have enough room and food to spare, and,” she turned to Azula, her face far too earnest to be trusted, “I'm sure I'll be able to treat your burn until you’re well enough to leave.”

Song’s earnest proposition immediately put Azula on guard and from the way he stood up taller and clenched his fists, Zuko as well. There was no way that was a genuine offer, there _had_ to be an ulterior motive. Maybe she suspected they were fire nation? Or maybe she could tell that they were noble in some way? It wasn’t like they were very good at hiding it, Zuko was simply too bad of a liar and Azula had never lowered herself to pay attention to how colonised commoners acted. 

But, did they really have a choice to refuse? It would definitely be suspicious for two ‘war children’ to refuse free lodgings, and they couldn’t afford any suspicion, not when Azula wasn’t sure if she’d be able to run without throwing up. And if they evaded suspicion and lived outside, well. Azula wasn’t sure how much of her infection had cleared, and she didn’t want to find out the hard way. 

“We’d be honoured,” she smiled, cutting in before Zuko could say anything dumb. The girl, Song, smiled sweetly, and something in Azula’s gut told her that it could be trusted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in this au,,, they stay with song for more than one night 😳 what does this mean~

**Author's Note:**

> my writing Tumblr's [here.](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/whatamiwriting-whyamidoingthis) I've got the next few chapters written down but I wanna stock up before I post anything 😔 hope you liked it!!


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